Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten PastReview

In a fast-moving medium like games the passage of time can be particularly cruel, but remakes give us the opportunity to revisit games as our fallible brains recall them rather than as they actually were, and introduce them to new generations without having to look past stale graphics and design. Dragon Quest VII is a sensitive update of a 16-year-old JRPG that captures the spirit of the respected original, though it doesn’t quite fill in all of the wrinkles of its outdated design.

New players should be warned that this game is, even by JRPG standards, a huge commitment. If you know exactly what you’re doing and where you’re going, you could conceivably finish the story within 75 hours – those who remember playing through the 2000 PlayStation original (released in North America a year later as Dragon Warrior VII) will find little to hinder their progress. But for most players the runtime will extend well into three figures. Completists, meanwhile, might be advised to clear their schedule until December. That’s December 2017. I’m not convinced it always manages to justify such volume (you could say that for most JRPGs) but even if it takes its sweet time on occasion its payoffs reward your patience.

“

The introduction has been intelligently streamlined.

Despite its formidable size, one of the first things seasoned JRPG fans will notice is that the introduction has been intelligently streamlined. It’s still quite some time before you’ll face your first monster battle, but you don’t have quite so long to wait until you’re exploring the wider world. It might seem an unusually slow start by modern standards, but it helps establish its central trio and why they’re so keen to leave their home: your young avatar, the rebellious Prince Kiefer, and inquisitive local girl Maribel are all certain there must be life beyond their lonely island, despite the protestations of others that nothing lies beyond its shores but an endless sea.

If every JRPG journey is essentially a coming-of-age tale about the world getting bigger – their youthful heroes learning and growing as they’re exposed to different places and people outside their home – Dragon Quest VII takes the metaphor more literally. The title gives the goal away: as you explore you’ll find stone fragments that, when placed on plinths at a mythical temple, unlock portals to new realms from a forgotten time. In each new place, you’ll arrive at a time of crisis with a problem to solve; once you’ve done that you’ll find the island is now accessible in the present day.

This structural shift makes for a very different kind of journey. Where most JRPGs have a strong plot that drives you forward, this is essentially a collection of small, self-contained stories. At times it’s like watching a season of a favourite TV show that spends the first two-thirds on mystery-of-the-week episodes before belatedly bringing in the big bad for the closing stretch. You do lose something of the party’s personal journey, but these intimate little vignettes are nicely told and offer plenty of variety. You’ll be asked to convince a god-fearing community not to go ahead with a dangerous ritual, witness a thorny love triangle, and defend a city against an army of automatons (with a surprisingly moving coda).

The effect is like playing through a series of unusually expansive side quests, and that’s not necessarily a complaint - though one or two could have perhaps been trimmed and not much would be lost. In inviting you to observe each island’s quirks and rituals, Dragon Quest 7 sends a positive message about embracing other cultures, conveyed by an excellent localisation that works hard to distinguish each settlement from the next. It repeats a trick we’ve seen before in previous Dragon Quest remakes by using dialogue inflections to convey a range of accents, from Texan to Italian, Irish to German. But while purists might be unhappy with some of the name changes, the writers haven’t gone overboard with the puns and the writing adds humour and texture.

The downside is that while you’re supposedly helping the world get bigger, it doesn’t really feel like you’re expanding its boundaries because you’re often contained within a relatively small part of it. Even within each island there’s a lot of back and forth between areas. Rather than spending a short time in a new place and then moving on, as in most JRPGs, I sometimes felt stuck in a holding pattern for just a little too long. It doesn’t help that many of the people you meet look the same, with frequently recycled character models. The writing might be trying its best to convince you otherwise, but it’s hard to mourn the death of an NPC in one section when minutes later you arrive in a new town where he appears to have been cloned.

“

Revamped graphics really do justice to the characterful monster designs.

That might be a minor gripe, but it’s all the more disappointing given the visual lick of paint elsewhere. The original game was considered pretty ugly in its time, but the revamped graphics really do justice to Akira Toriyama’s characterful monster designs (the walking corpses are surely gaming’s most adorable zombies). And though the field environments are sparse, the villages and towns are suitably lively and the dungeons appropriately labyrinthine and imposing.

In that light, it’s strange that the interface is so old-fashioned and occasionally counter-intuitive. You’ll often find NPCs repeating lines because you triggered another conversation when you were trying to skip through their dialogue, and while shopkeepers will kindly rearrange your items to make room for new purchases you’ll still have to go through the painstaking process of selling items individually and transferring things one by one between party members before they can be equipped.

“

You’ll rarely need to worry too much about the composition of your team.

The relative lack of difficulty in the turn-based combat is a more debatable issue. Dragon Quest has always been designed as an entry-level RPG, and its easygoing challenge won’t be a problem for those wanting to get on with the story. It does, however, mean that there’s little incentive for most players to fully get to grips with the interesting but underused job system that comes into play around 20 hours in, give or take. Though there’s a wide range of vocations to choose from, with additional specialities available once you’ve mastered the basic roles, outside the optional endgame content you’ll rarely need to worry too much about the composition of your team. As long as you’ve got a healer with plenty of MP in reserve and a couple of powerful attackers, you’ll probably breeze past most bosses without coming close to dying. This might not be an issue for those who play JRPGs for the story, but if you’re looking for a sterner test you’ll be waiting quite a while.

This new version attempts to address that with one of its new features, though this isn’t introduced for a surprisingly long time. Connecting to other players via StreetPass allows you to send monsters you’ve befriended to share special fragments. Each connection will raise your monster’s level, which in turn unlocks new dungeons with more powerful creatures to face. With such a substantial story and an embarrassment of optional diversions – some players will spend hours in the casino alone – this isn’t a game that really needs greater longevity, but the truly committed will be delighted to know it’s there.

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past

Travel to the past to save the present in this classic Dragon Quest adventure that has been completely remade from the ground up for Nintendo 3DS.

This link directs to a retail affiliate. IGN may receive a commission from your purchase.

The Verdict

Despite the much-needed visual overhaul, if you spent 100+ hours with the PlayStation original there’s maybe not quite enough in this 3DS update to tempt you back. But if Dragon Quest VII doesn’t always justify the significant length of its journey, anyone looking for some good story content to last them well into the winter months will find a portable RPG that dwarfs most of its console counterparts.